Though researchers have advocated a more direct link between individual, population, and community processes, translating the behavior of individuals to the dynamics of natural populations and communities has remained a major challenge in ecology....

In this dissertation, I present an examination of the role of two biotic interactions in the population dynamics of Vibrio cholerae. Traits with a genetic basis such as size, physiological processes, stress tolerance, and even behavior, are key...

Networks that model relationships in the real world have attracted much attention in the past few years. The "link prediction problem" plays a central role in the network area. In this thesis, we explore the link prediction problem in a...

This thesis presents data from ground camera observations of the aurora conducted from Alaska during the winters of 2005 through 2007. In conjunction with these camera observations, conjugate radar observations of the auroral ionosphere were...

While Cherenkov emission was discovered more than eighty years ago, the potential applications of imaging this during radiation therapy have just recently been explored. With approximately half of all cancer patients being treated by radiation at...

This thesis is divided into 2 parts. In the first part of the thesis, we describe a software based approach to speeding up the Magnetic Resonance Imaging modality. In the second part of the thesis, we describe Significance Tree Quantization, which...

A fiber can transmit around 25 Tbit/s, but electronic signal processing today is performed at much slower speeds, usually 1-10 Gbit/s. To avoid this "bottleneck" in optical fiber communication systems, all signal processing will have to be done...

A 62 kDa (p62) mitotic apparatus-associated protein has been shown to be important for the proper progression of mitosis in sea urchin embryos. The thesis project described here focuses on an immunological and a molecular characterization of p62....

We present results from a modeling effort of simple shock phenomena in the Cygnus Loop and Cassiopeia A. Using multi-epoch MDM observations of a small, isolated cloud in the southwest region of the Cygnus Loop, we measure the velocity of the...

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is the most common bearing material in joint arthroplasty due to its biocompatibility, its wear resistance, and its mechanical toughness. Despite the favorable properties of UHMWPE and its success...

We pose several adversarial variants of the multi-armed bandit scenario and propose new approaches for their play and analysis. Our casino patron seeks to discover information about an unknown system as a means to long-term payoff -- exploration...

The processes by which nonlinear physical systems approach thermal equilibrium is of great importance in many areas of science. Central to this is the mechanism by which energy is transferred between the many degrees of freedom comprising these...

Recombinant protein production has traditionally relied on organisms with well developed molecular biological tools, such as E. coli. However, E. coli is not suited for large industrial scale production due to its propensity to produce organic...

We have developed a general-purpose registration algorithm for medical images and volumes. The transformation between images is modeled as locally affine but globally smooth, and explicitly accounts for local and global variations in image...

α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs) function as paracrine and autocrine receptors throughout the body. Most studies have focused on their role in fast excitatory neuronal signaling, and learning and memory. In...

Whi3 is a G1/S regulator and known to inhibit G1 CDK activity. It was first described as a cell-size control gene in a set of cell division cycle mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Dysfunction or deletion of Whi3 leads to abnormal cell cycle...

Estradiol is a key regulator of immune protection in the female reproductive tract (FRT). Its concentration varies during the menstrual cycle, leading to changes in innate immune protection. In this thesis, I demonstrate the multiple levels at...

Purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) can dominate the nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur cycles in anoxic ecosystems via their anoxygenic photosynthetic metabolisms and are the only producers of the carotenoid, okenone, a biomarker targeted for photic zone...

Annual screening mammograms are recommended for all women above 40 years of age for early detection of breast cancer, and are known to improve cancer mortality rates. However, mammography is hampered by low sensitivity and a high rate of false...

At the heart of computer games and computer generated films lies 3D content creation. A student wanting to learn how to create and edit 3D meshes can quickly find thousands of videos explaining the workflow process. These videos are a popular...

Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) is a neurovisceral disease that causes intracellular accumulation of cholesterol and other lipids. The exact mechanism how the defects in cholesterol trafficking pathways result in the progressive neurological damage is...